I Rejected A Doris Lessing ManuscriptLessing had written the book (The Diary of a Good Neighbour) under a pseudonym (Jane Somers), "partly because she wanted it to be appraised purely on merit, partly out of solidarity with young writers, and partly to free herself from her own literary persona." James Lasdun, who was the slush-pile reader at Lessing's regular publisher who recommended rejecting the Somers manuscript, fesses up.
The New Yorker 07/23/13